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T-Mobile TMUS US Inc. said it vaulted ahead of rival AT&T Inc. T in the race for wireless customers to become the country’s second-largest cellphone carrier.
The Bellevue, Wash., company ended June with 98.3 million U.S. customers, excluding wholesale subscribers on other brands that use its network. AT&T reported 92.9 million prepaid and postpaid customers, a tally that didn’t count wholesale accounts or connected devices such as Wi-Fi hotspots and car sensors. T-Mobile included non-phone gadgets like wireless hotspots in its reported customer base.
Despite the different reporting policies, T-Mobile was long expected to climb the wireless rankings after it closed its merger with rival Sprint in April. The merger effort prevailed after a more than two-year battle with regulators and antitrust enforcers that culminated in a federal antitrust trial brought by a coalition of state officials. The transaction created a larger mobile service provider with a market value topping $100 billion controlled by German parent company Deutsche Telekom AG .
“We’re staring down Verizon with our sight set on the No. 1 spot,” T-Mobile Chief Executive Mike Sievert said Thursday during a videoconference with financial analysts. Verizon Communications Inc. ended June with 119.9 million wireless connections, a figure that also counted smartwatches, tablets, and other machines aside from smartphones.
T-Mobile’s second-quarter results showed it also weathered the coronavirus pandemic better than its competitors, adding 253,000 postpaid phone customers during the period. Investors place a higher value on postpaid customers—who are billed for service after it is rendered—than on prepaid plans subject to more customer switches. |
